Partnerships in Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is characterized by funding partnerships of players from different sectors, turning away from traditional funding models rooted solely in the public sector. In Horizon 2020, many important fields of research are covered within these partnerships; in many cases, considerable amounts of funding are available. There are basically two types of funding partnerships under Horizon 2020.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)

In the context of Horizon 2020, the keyword "P2B" (Public to Business) describes several funding opportunities regarding the cooperation between academia and industry. Basically, two different structures can be subsumed under this concept:

So-called Contractual PPPs, which are based on a contractual agreement between a public body and the private sector; their (mostly application-related) research topics are funded via regular calls for proposals in the Work Programmes of the European Commission.

So-called Institutional PPPs; these PPPs are so-called Joint Undertakings (JU), legally independent entities lead by industry with an extensive regulatory and budgetary autonomy. Joint Undertakings distribute funding from the public bodies and industry through their own application procedures. The most relevant example are the so-called Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI).